Japanese seller

[nihon]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/365553295008?itmmeta=01JSKGVFSYMWSCN4BRWH1ZEHXZ&hash=item551cac9ea0:g:NY4AAOSwd4hoBjcw

 

I saw this Japanese sword seller on ebay. The review are little but compared to majority of Japanese sellers on ebay, this one provides information on the swordsmith. The guy does not seem to be one of those resellers. This sword has gotten my attention and would be a good piece from around the onin war period but I has old certification and I am a bit concerned if it is a gimei.

 

Jed.

[Bosco]

The registration is 1950s , the kicho is 1975. Seem fine. Not a big name too. I let the pros here check out the Mei. 

[ROKUJURO]

Jedediah,

as you could read here in various threads, old papers are mostly worthless. If a Japanese seller cannot provide recent papers (which would be an easy thing to do for him), he knows the signature is not SHOSHIN. It is a very well known swordsmith.

If you liked the blade and the KOSHIRAE for what they are, it would be anothet thing. Perhaps you could negotiate.

[lonely panet]

Clearly bizen and Clearly a new mei.

 

The price reflects this. Sill nice for the price bracket. 

 

Seen new collectors pay 15k aud for worse

[Mikaveli]

Comes back to the adage, buy the blade not the signature.

 

I took a bit of a punt on an eBay blade - the seller described the condition of the sword accurately, but didn't/couldn't personally authenticate the mei.

 

With my purchase, I reached the conclusion that if it were gimei, it was a really well researched one - as everything fits the smith's style perfectly.

 

Anyway, in the end I had it delivered to an agent in Japan, then on to Shinsha (received TokuHo). 🙂

[lonely panet]

Hahahaha very good. Shows us all

[Lewis B]

Very nice. I could almost guarantee this seller has multiple Ebay/Yahoo sellers accounts. The photos are just too well executed to be a noob on the scene. They are some of the best I've come across on those platforms.

I would assume its gimei. There are kanji by 2 different hands on the omote. The bottom two appear older.

The koshirae fittings also appear above average and can I detect a signature on the tsuba? Hard to tell for sure with all the patination.

Overall if you like the blade its worth a punt at that price. The hamon seems quite distinctive so maybe this can be the subject for further research on the maker.